Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-07-22
THE ASSESSMENT ROLL
More Determinations i'm
Value Unearthed.
PROPERTY OF THE UNKNOWN.
Low Valuations in One Place,
and High Ones Sur
rounding.

The few truths published in the
HERALD yesterday morning in re-
lation to the muddled condition ol
Assessor Mason's rolls was the cause
of much comment, and it served a
good purpose, for it put the property
owners on their guard, and will per-
haps prevent many of the properties
assessed to "Unknown Owners" from
being sold for delinquent taxes. The
property owners being informed that
there is an immense list of property
assessed to "Unknown Owners" will
of course search the rolls for their
names, and if they are not found
there will look for the description Of
the property they own in the lists Of
lots, the proprietors of which Assessor
Mason says he could not find. There
are many, however, among the small
owners who will probably never
have their attention called to the fact
that they are not assessed by name
and these are the ones who will suffer
the most. In this list are included
many tracts and it appears from state
ments made in relation to the matter
that, if he had SO desired, the Assessor
could have easily ascertained the
owners Of the lots by applying to the
parties in whose hands the land had
been placed for sale. Most of these
tracts are well known and the offices
are centrally located SO that it would
not have cost much time or trouble to
have looked up the names. Why this
was not done is a mystery and cannot
be satisfactorily explained. In very
short time yesterday five parties up
peared before the Supervisors and
found that their property was in
cluded in the list of unknown own
ers" and as the property owners con-
tinue in their examination of the
rolls there is no doubt but
they will find for themselves how
negligently the rolls were prepared.
THE EXAMINATION.
The examination of the rolls by the
Supervisors is necessarily slow, but
this year the task is more arduous than
ever, and the cause is the erratic man.
ner i..swhich the description of prop
critics is entered. A glance at the long
list of errors in these descriptions, dis
covered thus early in the search, will
convince the most unbelieving that
there was very incompetent method
used in writing up the books. Hardly
a page of the rolls is scanned but some
error is found. Either the road or
school district is not designated, or the
property is put in the wrong district,
or there is no means of telling
its situation. As fast as the Super
visors discover these errors they
mark in scratcher, the page of
the book, together with such
queries as "Where is the property ?"
''In which district?' "What is
the boundary?" or "How much
land" These queries are only a part
of the whole, and if space would per-
NIT very long but interesting list of
errata could be furnished. As it is
the searcher for information can
imagine list of errors, amounting on
an average, of one to every page.
Sometimes there are more than one
on page, and then it may be that
several pages will be found without
mistakes. These things are annoy
ing, to say the least, and taken in
conjunction with the complaints made
by those who have been unjustly as
sessed, they make matters uncomfor-
table for the Supervisors. Another
case of unjust assessment arbitrarily
Il
cred yesterday. 1t was that of VIM.
Dryden, whose land and improve
ments were assessed for an amount |
four times as great as they should
have been. The Supervisors have no |
power to reduce this assessment, be-
cause the Assessor stated on the mar
gin that Mr.. Dryden had not complied |
with the law and filed statement |
with him. Mr.. Dryden says that he |
did file his statement with the Assess.
or, and stated yesterday that he sup
posed the matter would have to go |
into the courts. If this state of affairs |
keeps up the courts will be filed with |
tax cases caused by this peculiar meth
cd of assessment.
MORE DISCRIMINATION.
Probably everybody who who is ac-
quianted with the land owned by ID.
Freeman in the Sausal Redondo knows |
that it is at least equal in value to
that surrounding, and many say that |
it is better. A short time since this
land sold at the rate of $125 per acre,
and yet on the assessment rolls Mr.. |
Mason has fixed its value at but |
$17 per acre. 1t might, perhaps,
be imagined that since Mr.. Mason had |
fixed this land at $17 per acre he |
would assess the land in the immediate |
vicinity at the same price, but an ex-
animation of the books shows that the |
balance of the land about Mr.. Free
mans ranch has been assessed at
prices ranging From $50 to $275 per
acre. This is an opportunity, which
will not be missed, for the Supervisors
to rectify the unequal valuation. AL
short distance away from this piece of
land is the Tejauta rancho, and taking |
the figures of the rolls for the years
1886 and 1887 it is found that Mrs.
Mary j. Bell was assessed on sixty |
acres $500 in 1886, and that the
value of that parcel Of land has been |
raised to 10000 this year. Nearly all
all of this rancho is assessed at the |
rate of 800 per acre, and why Mr.:
Freeman's land should be placed
at $17 is an enigma which only Mr..
Mason can answer.
The Supervisors did not develope
much that was new yesterday, because
their time was taken up mostly with
mortgages but to-day it is expected that
there will be some very interesting dis
crepancies unearthed.
Commencing Young.
Officer Collins found two small bows.